


Zombies Ate My Neighbors

by 0bviousLeigh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gore, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, but somehow it's still fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-24 20:12:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10748967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: Grab something sharp, find some cover, kill the lights and nail the back door shut. This isn't funny any more, oh no, this means war.And something tells me it's going to be a long night.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Title, summary, and inspiration provided by the song by Single File  
> http://www.metrolyrics.com/zombies-ate-my-neighbors-lyrics-single-file.html

The zombie apocalypse starts off less of an apocalypse and more of an annoyance. When the first zombies popped up in a small town in the English isles, there was a massive panic. People fled the town in waves to other countries, and at the same time people from around the world entered the sleepy town in droves to study the creatures. Government scientists, SWAT teams, and nuclear experts descended on the undead and came back with an almost disappointing revelation—the undead were not at all that impressive.

These zombies were very much like the zombies of old horror movies, slow moving, clumsy, and while they did consume living flesh, they primarily dug up human bodies to eat, as the dead didn’t outrun them. They would pick the bodies to the bare bones, which some people saw as a boon, as it solved the issue of having nowhere to deposit the dead. They were also very easy to get rid of, merely detaching their heads from their bodies and reburying either piece would keep a zombie dead and in the ground. Within days of the discovery the plague began to spread to other towns and countries, and within a year it was a global issue.

After the initial panic died down, the Zombie became a mere inconvenience to be dealt with, like hail or a bad case of the sniffles. As long as one could outrun or destroy a zombie before it got its teeth in you, there was no need to worry. Indeed, for the longest time, the most damage the zombies did was to the cars that habitually crashed into them. Sadly if one was bitten by a zombie there was a 99% chance of dying and rising as a zombie, unless proper measures were taken to prevent one’s rebirth (ie, cremation or separating the head from the body). It seemed that the plague of undead was caused by some kind brain deteriorating disease, one for which there was no cure.

For a few years the general population was content to just let the zombies be. There was even a point in time where the zombies were considered charming, in a way. People tried to keep them as attractions in circuses and zoos, and a few enterprising and wealthy people sought to keep them in private residences as pets, though since attempts to feed zombies animal byproducts failed, as did attempts to feed them live animals (to the delight of animal rights activists around the world), and they only consumed human flesh, the zombies grew increasingly mad with hunger and tried to eat each other, as well as any human who got too close. There was also a question of legality in keeping zombies captive, even killing them again.

As debates over zombie rights raged on, one aspiring filmmaker attempted to film an adult video with a zombie. It not only failed, as the undead had no interest in partaking, the filmmaker was devoured by the undead. Laws were hurriedly passed, outlawing the possession of a zombie in public or private residence, as well as attempting sexual relations with an undead. It became legal to kill the undead, only after one had gotten within three meters of the subject and announced that they would kill it—as teenagers had taken to dressing as undead in attempts to prank neighbors.

With the passing of laws permitting killing, schools began offering after school classes in undead slaughtering, so children could protect themselves. Few people wanted to get so close to the undead, so not many people actively killed them, trying instead to avoid the undead as they avoided the homeless or a stray dog. But when the undead could not feast on the fast-moving living, they began digging up the recently deceased and eating the corpses. Unlike they had in the past, the zombies avoided eating the brains of their dead meals, which caused another problem. It seemed the disease could take hold of any human, alive or dead, as long as the brain remained intact. Thus half-devoured undead began roaming the streets, and within three short years, the population of undead multiplied tenfold. It truly became a zombie apocalypse.

And in that time, a new breed of hero began to rise. The young, recently graduated, still-unemployed children of the world began taking up swords instead of pens, and buying helmets and riot shields instead of interview wear and briefcases. The army of youth found grand adventure in the plague of zombies, and they made it their personal mission to be remembered as the generation who bested the army of the undead.


	2. Grab something sharp

Yuri’s primary weapon is, of all things, a screwdriver.

“Isn’t there something else you can use?” Yuto once asked. “Like, anything else?”

“Why mess with something that works?” Yuri responded. “I killed my first zombie with this screwdriver. It’s compact, fits in my pocket, and I’m not going to cut my hand on it like you will with that sword of yours.”

Yuto responded, “At least I’m not within mouth’s reach of a zombie like this.”

Perhaps the sword is a little…tacky, but it’s certainly quicker at beheading the undead than a screwdriver is, or a baseball bat or even a gun, not that Yuto could get his hands on one of those. And Yuto killed his first zombie with this sword, he wrenched off a decorative shield in the school library and swiftly beheaded an undead that was trying to get through the window. Of course, being primarily decorative, the sword needed a lot of sharpening, and now Yuto uses it because he put too much effort into its upkeep not to use it.

Yuri and Yuto both killed their first zombies at their boarding school. They were in the mountains, close to town but far enough away where they thought they were (almost boringly) safe from the undead. Then one day, a group of zombies invaded the campus. Until that day, Yuto and Yuri had never even spoken to each other, but being the only two people out in the freezing cold beheading zombies had a way of bringing people together. As they burned the decapitated beasts, Yuto asked about the screwdriver in Yuri’s hand.

“Do you take woodshop?”

“No, I always have it on me,” Yuri said, wiping the gore off it.

“Why?”

“Because I’m not allowed to have a pocket knife on school grounds. No rules against screwdrivers.”

Yuto had nothing to say to that. As the fire died down, Yuto spoke again. “It must be getting bad if they dragged themselves all the way up here.”

“I suppose,” Yuri agreed.

Yuto looked at the sword in his hands. “I wanted to go around destroying them, but I didn’t have anyone to go with me.”

“Sucks for you.”

Yuto sighed. “Do you want to kill zombies with me?”

Yuri grinned. “Now there’s the invitation I was looking for. I would be delighted.”

And the two of them have been partners in zombie killing ever since.

It’s been nearly a year since they packed up and left school. They started off killing local zombies in the town below the school, then they set off to find more. Once their school was safe, Yuto wanted to go to his hometown to check on his friends, Ruri and Shun. They had been pulled out of school by their parents, even though the school was considered safe. Yuto and Yuri found their home abandoned, and when Yuto used a key that Shun had given him to get in, he found a note addressed to him. It read that the family was going north, where there were rumors of vaccines being tested. It was the first time Yuri and Yuto had heard about it, and they didn’t believe it. They headed back to their school, and they made it to the town before they admitted that neither of them wanted to go back there.

The school was one of many that donated spots to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, namely orphans. Yuto was a rare case in that he went back to his hometown for school vacations, back to the orphanage he grew up in. Yuri had never been to where he grew up since entering school, but it wasn’t like he considered the dorms his home. As the two of them had stood in a grocery store, eyeing the towering spires of the castle-esque building, Yuri voiced what Yuto was feeling.

“I’ll go back there when they drag me back.”

So the two of them left the town and went back the way came. They set up camp in abandoned buildings, ditched their bikes when the tires went flat, and picked through looted stores to feed themselves. When word of the vaccine tests resurfaced a month ago, this time in an actual newspaper, the two of them took it seriously and decided to go where the research was. Now they’re striking off to Maiami city, and if the rumors are true, the end of the plague is in sight.

“I think we should go that way,” Yuri says, pointing left.

“The map says we should go right.”

“Yeah, but I swear I smell undead this way,” Yuri says.

Yuto groans. “Do we have to? My shoulder is still killing me from yesterday.”

“Wimp,” Yuri says.

Yuto grips the handle of his sword. “It’s not a crime to want to play it safe now and then.”

Yuri twirls the handle of his screwdriver between his fingers. “No, but it’s not as fun.”

“Rock paper scissors,” Yuto snaps.

Yuri wins, and Yuto swears he must cheat.

“I could go alone,” Yuri says.

But Yuto knows better than that, it’s how accidents happen. Plus he fears for his own safety, zombies may be slow and easy to kill but in a large group they could be deadly, and he doesn’t want to face that possibility alone.

“I’m coming,” he sighs, hitching his backpack up a little higher on his good shoulder.

Sure enough they barely go a mile before they see a half dozen undead staggering towards them.

“I can take ‘em,” Yuri says.

“I can manage,” Yuto says.

He’s a liar, he swings at one zombie and his shoulder quits on him. He nearly gets a bite in his arm, and would have been toast if not for Yuri saving his butt. Yuri disables the zombies and Yuto ends up kicking the beasts down so Yuri can rip their heads off. So Yuto helps a bit, but it’s much less satisfying than the slice of the sword through their necks.

Yuri shakes the canister of gasoline and Yuto screams at him, “Are you nuts?!”

Yuri rolls his eyes. “Chill. There’s not that much left, we’re going to have to find more.”

Yuto uses his good arm to haul some wood over to the two piles of undead—one pile for the bodies and one for the heads—and Yuri uses a little bit of the gasoline to help the fire along. Yuri strikes a match and lets it fall on one pile, then another match for the other pile. While the fire burns, Yuri demands to get a look at Yuto’s shoulder. It’s freezing, but Yuto strips off his jacket.

“And the shirt,” Yuri demands.

“I didn’t get bit.”

“Will you do as I say?!” Yuri snaps.

Yuto yanks off his shirt and shivers in the cold air. “Happy now?”

Yuri pokes his shoulder and Yuto cries out.

“Did it hurt that bad or are you just being a baby?” Yuri asks.

“I wasn’t expecting your sharp nails,” Yuto says. “It wasn’t…terrible.” He changes the subject. “Is it me, or were those undead a little speedier than normal?”

“It wasn’t just you,” Yuri says.

Yuto gets dressed again. They wait for the fire to burn down and then Yuri breaks into a gas station. It’s already been looted, but he finds a towel and some painkillers. He makes a sling and forces Yuto to wear it.

“The last thing we need is your shoulder burning out for good,” he snaps. Yuto swallows three pills and grudgingly admits to himself that the sling does help with the pain, but he feels like a loser.

“Let’s stay here for the night,” Yuri says. “I’ll take the first watch.”

You never let your guard down with zombies on the loose, no matter how slow they might be.

A few hours after Yuto finally falls asleep, he wakes up to Yuri poking him. “Undead at nine o’clock,” he whispers.

Yuto grabs his sword with his working arm and peers out the window. The zombies are a few yards away, they might not even notice the store, but Yuto’s heard (and truly believes) that they can smell sweat and hear heartbeats. He forces himself into a state of near-boredom, focusing on the wind whistling in the trees and thinking back to his math teacher’s boring voice.

The zombies pass the gas station, and Yuri and Yuto give it a good twenty minutes before they even think about speaking.

“We should move on,” Yuri says.

“You should rest,” Yuto says at the same time.

Yuri shakes his head. “I’m fine.”

Yuto raises his sword. “Sleep.”

Yuri narrows his eyes, but he lays down and uses his backpack as a pillow. “One hour,” he mutters.

Yuto doesn’t wake him until sunrise. He gets hell for it, but he knows Yuri needed the rest.

 

 

Yuto whimpers as Yuri presses his fingers into the sore muscles under Yuto’s shoulder blade.

“Damn,” Yuri whispers. “You need help.”

“What help?” Yuto snaps, pulling his shirt back on. “We can’t afford a doctor.”

“You could be seriously injured! What if something’s torn?”

“Please,” Yuto scoffs, “I’m young, I’m not even twenty yet. I just had a bad swing with the sword.”

“It’s been three days,” Yuri says. “Do you feel better at all?”

Honestly, no, and Yuto’s running out of pain medication. They need to get to a major city, one that hasn’t been ravaged by the undead, but it’s slow moving now. Yuri has to take on anything they come across mostly by himself, and it seems like the zombies are growing in numbers and getting more dangerous.

“How much farther to Maiami city?” Yuto asks.

“At least a hundred kilometers,” Yuri says.

Yuto groans. They can cover maybe fifteen in a day, including time to rest and fight off undead. It’ll take more than a week at this rate.

“We could steal a car,” Yuto says.

“Yeah, and turn it on with what key?” Yuri asks. “Cars can’t be hotwired these days. And cops are still a thing.”

Yuto knows that. “Why do they even care?” He mutters. “Don’t they know the world is ending?”

Yuri sighs. “Yeah, but they still have to corral teenage delinquents like us.” He stands and brushes off his pants. “Come on, let’s get moving.”

They walk closer together now, Yuri always within arm’s reach of Yuto’s sword. Yuto wishes Yuri wouldn’t worry, his stress is rubbing off on Yuto, but he gets it. They’ve had each other’s backs for a year now, the idea of one of them getting hurt…it’s unsettling. Yuto and Yuri were never friends before, but they knew of each other, being orphans and charity cases in a school for the well-off, they frequently sat together at lunch or worked on projects, but friends? Yuto wouldn’t have called them that. When they started destroying zombies together, when they started taking turns keeping watch so the other could sleep, when they shared half-frozen pizzas in deserted supermarkets with a corpse burning in the bathroom a few yards away, well it was hard not to be friends after all that. Yuto guesses that if it were Yuri who had gotten hurt, he would be worried too.

Yuri points to a road up ahead. “I see cars!”

Yuto’s heart skips a beat and he casts aside his thoughts. He and Yuri take off running, and sure enough, there’s traffic on the highway, if one can call a few dozen cars traffic. They fling themselves against the cement barrier and wave their arms, hoping to flag someone down. After five minutes of shouting, a car finally pulls over a few yards away, and they jog to it.

“Where are you headed?” The driver asks, leaning over her passenger. The girls look about the same age as Yuri and Yuto, both are dressed in sturdy jackets and pants, and there are baseball bats in the front seat.

“How far to a city?” Yuri asks. “My friend needs medical attention.”

The girl in the passenger seat sits up. “Bitten?”

“No,” Yuto says firmly, “Just a sore shoulder. He’s overreacting.”

“We’re headed towards civilization,” the driver says. “Hop in.”

Yuri and Yuto leap the barrier and open the back door of the van. It’s crowded, there’s three boys and another girl already in back seats. Yuri and Yuto squeeze into the very back of the car, and the driver takes off once more.

“I’m Serena,” she says. She points around the car to the other passengers. “Meet Yuzu, Rin, Yugo, Yuya and Sora. You guys are?”

“Yuri and Yuto,” Yuto answers. “We’re coming from Aomori.”

Yuya turns around. “Far away,” he says. “You guys heard about the vaccine tests?”

“How’d you guess?” Yuto asks.

“It’s all anyone would travel for,” Sora says. He’s playing a handheld game, chewing some gum, and the picture of nonchalance. But in addition to holding the gaming system, he’s got a pair of vicious-looking scissors in his hands. “It’s what we’re on the road for.”

Serena nods. “I quit school to fight zombies, and I was doing fine until a few weeks ago. Our town got overrun with the bastards, and they seem to be getting faster, did you notice? Anyway, Yuzu here told me that if I’m going to fight zombies, I should be safe about it. Like getting a flu shot.”

“She saved our necks when the zombies came,” Yuzu says, smiling at Serena. “Got our entire apartment block into one place, armed everyone, and barricaded the door. It was amazing that we all survived the night.” Yuzu pinches Serena’s cheeks. “And we can’t go losing our best General in this army, can we?”

Serena bats at Yuzu’s hand. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” she chuckles.

Sora kicks the back of Yuzu’s chair. “No flirting in the car, we’ve been over this!”

“Pipe down, you little gremlin!” Serena snaps, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.”

“You didn’t bring me into this world.”

“I saved your butt from being zombie food.”

“I would have—” Sora starts, but Rin claps her hand over his mouth.

“Do you want her to start swerving again?” She asks.

“Swerving?” Yuri repeats.

“Like this!” Serena says, and she jerks the wheel left to right. There aren’t any other cars anywhere near them, but all the passengers scream for their lives while Serena cackles.

“Are you insane?” Yuri cries.

Serena drives properly once more. “Dude, I go around beheading and burning rotting corpses for a living, of course I’m insane!”

Yugo rubs his head and mutters, “We’re all insane for getting into this damn car with you.”

“Quit your whining,” Serena says. “I haven’t killed anyone living yet.”

“Oh, goody,” Yuri mutters. Yuto muffles his laughter behind his hand, he actually likes this group.

 

 

The van gets to the city by sundown, which, since it is winter, is fairly early. Serena pulls the car into a diner parking lot, jams a motorcycle helmet onto her head, and grabs her bat.

“Get me a burger,” she yells over her shoulder as she darts off towards some houses.

“Where’s she going?” Yuto asks.

“To find out if they’ve got a problem,” Yuzu says, rolling her eyes. “C’mon, let’s get some food and find out about a doctor.”

Yuto pats his pockets and checks his bag. He has thirty dollars, but he’s still got to see a doctor.

“How much money do you have?” Yuto asks Yuri, keeping his voice down.

“Not a lot,” Yuri replies. They trail the group, heads together as they count pennies. Being orphans, dependent on the country to feed and clothe them, they didn’t have a lot of money before the zombie apocalypse. They scrape together spare change they find on the streets and sometimes people will see their bloody hands or follow the smoke of their zombie bonfires, and they’ll give them money and food to thank them for helping keep the zombies at bay. Together, they have less than eighty dollars.

“How much will an exam be?” Yuto wonders. They’re in the restaurant by this time, waiting for a table. Not that they’ll be waiting long, the restaurant is mostly deserted.

“What’s going on?” A bright voice asks from behind them.

Yuto jumps and turns to see Yuya. “Jesus,” Yuto says, hand over his chest.

“Sorry,” Yuya says, not sounding it at all. He’s got a menu, the rest of the kids are chatting with a waitress. “You want to look?”

“I think we’ll pass,” Yuri says firmly. But the smell of the food is making them both salivate.

Yuya pulls out a credit card from his pocket. “My dad gave me this before I left, told me to feed myself and my friends. Don’t worry about the cost.”

“We don’t take charity,” Yuri snaps.

“Speak for yourself,” Yuto says, “I’m starving.”

“It’s not charity,” Yuya says. “I can tell you guys have been doing this for a while. You’ve destroyed a lot of undead, haven’t you?”

Yuri puts his hand in his jacket pocket, and Yuto knows he’s gripping the handle of his screwdriver. “Yeah,” he says.

“Then let me buy you a meal. You’re braver than I am.” He looks sad. “I’ve never…never destroyed one.” His eyes wander, and Yuto follows his gaze to Rin and Yugo. “I panicked,” Yuya admits. “Cried like a baby when the zombies came. Rin and Yugo kept me calm. They’ve taken down zombies. I don’t know how they did it. I don’t know how Serena does it, how Sora does it…”

“It’s not easy,” Yuto says. “And it’s not for everyone.”

Yuya sighs. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I’m a danger to everyone.”

“Better acknowledge your weakness than put others at risk ignoring it,” Yuri says. “That’s how people die. Now if you’re serious about buying, I’m seriously hungry.”

The three of them slide into a booth where the other four are already seated. They look over the menus and place their orders, all of them get burgers and soda except for Sora, who orders an entire blueberry pie and chocolate milkshake.

“What the heck?” Yuto asks as the waitress doesn’t even bat an eye. “How can you eat all that?”

“He’s crazy for sweets,” Yugo says, “Eats candy like you wouldn’t believe.”

“You’ll rot your teeth like that,” Yuri says.

Sora reaches into his bag and pulls out a handful of floss containers. “That’s why I use these!”

Yuri rolls his eyes. “Uh-huh, I really don’t think it’ll do much if you eat an entire pie in one sitting.”

The waitress brings their appetizers, plates of fries, and soon after that Serena comes banging into the restaurant, baseball bat bloodied and smelling like smoke.

“Who’s watching the fire?” Yuzu demands as Serena takes off her gloves and grabs some fries. “And go wash your hands!”

“They’re clean,” Serena says through a full mouth, “And a bunch of kids are watching the bodies burn, I barely had to kill anything, the kids here got it covered.” She takes a sip of Rin’s soda. “And I found us a place to sleep, there’s a motel that’s basically giving away rooms for one-night stays.”

“Brilliant,” Yugo says, “So we can spend the night there.”

“And I found a doctor for Yuto,” Serena continues, “His office is up the road a bit, apparently, and he opens at nine tomorrow, so I’ll drive him and Yuri up there while you lot hunt undead, gotta make our time here worth something bigger.”

“You don’t have to drive us,” Yuto says. “The fact that you got us this far is already a big help.”

“You’re going the same place as us,” Serena says, “What are you gonna do, walk the whole way?”

“That was the plan,” Yuri says.

“Really?!” Yuya asks, “But that would take days! Wouldn’t you get tired? Where would you sleep?”

“We’ve been on the road a year, we know how to survive,” Yuri says.

Yuya’s jaw drops. “A year?! Jesus.”

“That takes dedication,” Serena says, looking impressed.

“Don’t you get homesick?” Yuzu asks.

Yuri looks like he’s ready to let that go unanswered, and Yuto stomps on his foot. “Don’t be rude,” he tells Yuri, “You opened this door.” He says to the others, “We don’t exactly have a home. Or family. We’ve been fending for ourselves for a long time.”

“Oh,” Yuya says weakly. He clears his throat. “You should come back with us, when we’ve gotten the injections. You could—”

“Thanks for the offer,” Yuri interrupts, “But we just met you. That would take a lot of thought.”

The group falls silent, until the waitress brings out their food and they eat like the ravenous zombies they routinely destroy. The irony is not lost on any of them, but they’re too busy inhaling their food to even laugh about it.

After paying for their devoured meal, the group gets back in their van and makes their way to the motel. There are a lot of cars in the parking lot, and the woman behind the reception desk says there’s not many rooms available. Sora, Serena, and Yuzu take one room, Yuya, Yugo and Rin take another, and Yuto and Yuri get a room with one bed, but it’s the first proper bed they’ve seen in a while, with clean sheets and a bathroom with a shower, and _soap_.

They don’t even fight for the shower, they strip off their clothes and go in together. They’ve been living side by side for a year, they have no boundaries left to cross. When Yuto hisses in pain as he raises his arm to wash his hair, Yuri nudges the backs of his knees until Yuto kneels, and Yuri washes his hair for him. Yuto closes his eyes and exhales, feeling tension leave his shoulders as Yuri’s nails scrape gently against his scalp. Yuri tugs his head under the water and rinses the shampoo out. He trails his fingers down Yuto’s neck and prods at his shoulder once more. Yuto bites back a gasp of pain.

“It feels swollen,” Yuri says.

For the first time, Yuto wonders what will happen if his shoulder is really injured, beyond help that he can afford.

“Leave it under the water while I wash up,” Yuri orders, “Maybe the warm water will help.”

Yuto hums. He keeps his head down, half out of respect for Yuri, half to hide how worried he is. Thinking about his injury brings up a lot of other things he’s been avoiding thinking of. What happens if he can’t kill zombies anymore? What happens if he becomes a burden to Yuri? And later, years from now, what happens if the vaccine works and there are no more zombies left to kill? What will Yuto do with his life? He put off that crisis when the undead rose from the ground, but someday he’ll have to go to college, get a job. He doesn’t have a family to lean on, and when the zombie threat is neutralized, will he even have Yuri?

“Scoot over, I have to rinse.”

Yuto jumps and scrambles to his feet. “You can have it,” he says, and he gets out of the shower and grabs a towel.

“You okay?” Yuri calls. Yuto doesn’t answer, he dashes out of the bathroom, towel in hand.

Once he’s dried off, Yuto grabs a pair of sweat pants from his backpack and pulls them straight on, forgoing underwear and a shirt, he’s too lazy to look for those extra layers. He flops into bed, wincing as his shoulder muscles pull. He lies on his good side and hugs a pillow with his bad arm—the movement hurts initially, but the support helps.

Yuto hears the bathroom door open. “Are you running from your problems or something?”

“Shut up.”

“Fine,” Yuri snaps. “Be that way. Stoic, silent hero, ignore problems until they blow up in your face, that’ll make everything better.”

Yuto closes his eyes. “What do you want from me?” He asks quietly.

“Jesus, I don’t know,” Yuri says, sitting on Yuto’s legs. “Maybe some honesty?”

Yuto sighs heavily. “Fine. If it turns out my shoulder is really bad, and I can’t defend myself, if something happens and it’s me or you, save yourself. Don’t be a hero for me.”

Yuri is silent for a moment, then he grabs the pillow from under Yuto’s arm and squishes it over Yuto’s face.

“IDIOT!” Yuri screams. Yuto flails, but Yuri quickly yanks the pillow away. He flings it aside and slams his hands down on either side of Yuto’s head. “What, you think I want to be alone out there?” He cries, staring down at Yuto with…are those tears in his eyes?

“I just—” Yuto begins, but Yuri cuts him off.

“I’ve never had anyone, do you understand that?” Yuri asks. “No friends, no one who cared about me. You had a home to go back to, I never had that, and I hated you for it, do you hear me? I hated you until that day you killed zombies with me, because only an idiot with nothing to lose would do that, and I realized we’re not so different after all. So no, you idiot, I won’t leave you behind. I’m going to save your ass, and I can do that.”

He sits up. He’s wearing a long sleeved shirt, and he yanks it off and throws it aside. He shows Yuto a bunch of scars on his arm, going from his elbow to his shoulder. “You see these? I tried to kill myself before. I didn’t care if I lived or not. It didn’t work, obviously because I’m still here, but I’m glad it didn’t, I’m actually happy I’m still here. The world sucks and the dead are rising out of the ground but I’m fucking ecstatic to be alive, because for the first time I feel like someone would give a damn if I disappeared!”

Yuto stares up at Yuri. He feels tears sting his own eyes. “You...do you think we can still be friends even when there are no zombies left to kill?”

Yuri laughs. He runs a hand through his hair, and a tear slips down his cheek. “Yeah,” he says. “We can do that.”

Yuto sits up and wraps his arms around Yuri’s waist. He rests his head in the crook of Yuri’s neck. Yuri’s skin is warm, but he shivers when Yuto traces his spine with the tips of his fingers.

“I don’t know what I want out of my life,” Yuto confesses. “I’ve got no ambitions.”

“You’ll find them,” Yuri says. “I’ve got no idea what I’ll do either.”

Yuto sits up and rubs his eyes. He clears his throat. “Maybe we should get some rest.”

Yuri nods. “The pillow won’t give you enough support,” he says, “You need something firmer.”

“Firmer?” Yuto asks. “Like…what?”

Yuri rolls his eyes. “You’re so dense.” He pushes Yuto down on the bed, lays next to him, and pulls Yuto’s arm over his side. “There,” Yuri says, lacing their fingers together. “Much better support.”

“Oh,” Yuto says.


	3. Rather choke and die than sit alone and fall without a fight

The doctor adjusts his glasses. “It’s difficult to say for sure without an MRI, but I’m calling this as a rotator cuff injury.”

Yuto asks, “And what does that mean?”

“It means you’ve been swinging that sword too much,” the doctor answers.

“Told you,” Yuri mutters. Yuto kicks him.

“But I need the sword,” Yuto says. “And I’ve been resting but it’s not getting better.”

“You need more than a few days and some painkillers,” the doctor says. “So here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to send you to the pharmacy down the block—it’s been locked up like a safe, they still have medications—and give you a prescription for anti-inflammatories. I am also going to give you a proper sling, and I want you to wear it for a week.”

“A week?!” Yuto repeats.

“And when you get somewhere that you can get proper treatment, I want you to get an MRI.”

“But I’m an orphan!” Yuto says.

“I heard you,” the doctor says.

“I can’t afford an MRI!”

“Are you over twenty?”

“No, I’m seventeen.”

“Then you have state-sponsored insurance,” the doctor says patiently. “I’m guessing you don’t know your policy number, but a call to the institution in charge of your case should get you that information.”

The doctor sends them on the way, and Yuto tries desperately to remember the phone number he was supposed to call in situations like this, when he needed help from his caseworker. Not that he’s even sure the number will still connect to something.

The pharmacist fills the prescription and only charges Yuto $5 for it, so he and Yuri can actually afford some splurging. They buy some new gloves and a package of socks, then head back to the motel. Serena is loitering outside, her baseball bat slung over her shoulders.

“Good news?” She asks Yuto.

Yuto shrugs. “I have to rest for a week, I’m supposed to get a more thorough exam once we get somewhere that can provide me an MRI. It could be serious.”

“But it could also be okay,” Serena says, patting Yuto’s uninjured arm. “Well if you’re ready, we’re going to hit the road. We’re burning day light here.”

Once everyone is out of the motel and in the car, they take off.

“How much further is it?” Yuya asks.

“We’ll be there the day after tomorrow if we keep up this speed,” Serena says. “Of course, we’ve got no idea what the roads ahead are like.”

Yuzu fiddles with the radio, mostly getting static. Finally she gets a connection to a station, but it’s a weak one. She turns up the volume, and the whole car gets to hear the flickering of the reporter’s voice.

_“The overall number of undead…decreasing…vigilantes take to the streets…the undead…exact numbers are unknown…encounters are declining. News…Corporation’s reported vaccine is…Akaba will be…conference on the subject tonight.”_

“The undead’s numbers are decreasing!” Yuya cheers. “That’s good, right?”

“It could just be a one-time thing,” Yuzu says worriedly. “Until they eradicate the virus that affected the bodies in the first place, I don’t see how they’ll keep more bodies from rising.”

“I’ll take whatever victories we can get,” Rin says.

“Did that reporter say Akaba?” Yuri asks.

“Didn’t you know who was manufacturing the vaccine?” Serena asks, “It’s the Leo Corporation.”

Yuri grumbles and slinks down in his seat. “Great.”

“You got a problem with Leo Corp?” Yugo asks.

Yuto rolls his eyes. “They were the biggest donors to our school. Our school for problem children. We got lectured on the great Akaba family at least once a week. We hate them on principal.”

“And now they’re going to save our lives,” Yuri sighs.

 

* * *

 

“Yes, mama,” Masumi says quietly, her hand cupped over the phone, “You can bring him in tomorrow, Reiji Akaba will personally escort you to the exam room. Then we’ll talk about our options.” She takes a shaky breath. “I love you too, mama. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She hangs up and looks down at the picture in her locket. She hasn’t seen her baby brother in a year, not that he’s much of a baby anymore, at eight years old. But in the picture Masumi has, he’s four years old and planting a kiss on her cheek. Masumi adores her baby brother so much, and it’s hard to be away from him, but she’s here for him.

Mamoru was attacked and bitten by a zombie thirteen months ago. Masumi and her parents were devastated, sure that they would lose Mamoru, but he never developed the symptoms of the dreaded virus. It was then they learned that he was a carrier of the disease, the virus lived in him but didn’t affect him outwardly. Still, he could pass it on, and it was imperative that the family not come in contact with his saliva. Mamoru had to have special silverware, his toothbrush had to be kept practically under quarantine, and he couldn’t kiss them.

Masumi had been a high school graduate at the time, but she was a Leo Institute scholarship recipient and had been part of their six week science program over the summer, so when she learned that they were researching a cure for the virus, she went to Reiji Akaba and begged to be part of the project. He took her on, and initially she did grunt work—keeping her eye on petri dishes, filing paperwork and such, but Reiji soon found another way for her to be useful.

Masumi leaves the bathroom and walks down the hall. She swipes her ID card at a door marked ‘Authorization Required,’ and when she’s given the green light she quickly darts through the door. She dons gloves, protective shoe coverings, and a face mask, and exchanges her white lab coat for a pink one. The protective gear is necessary because right now she's in danger of passing on germs, but the pink lab coat make the whole thing seem less clinical. She walks down a long hall, swipes her ID card one more time, and enters a play room.

“Masumi!” Reira cries. He runs to her and gives her a hug, and Masumi ruffles his hair and kisses his head through her mask. The protocol that they're testing on him means Masumi can't risk breathing anything potentially harmful on Reira, but she wishes she could just kiss his forehead without a mask.

“Hi, Reira,” she says. “I was only gone for a few minutes.”

“But I missed you,” Reira pouts. “Is Reiji coming soon?”

Masumi glances at the clock. “Very soon,” she promises. “Do you want to keep playing our game, or do something else?”

“I want to color!” Reira says. “I want to make a picture for Reiji.”

Masumi helps Reira take out his paper and crayons, and she colors with him for a while. She doesn’t know much about Reira’s life before the zombie attacks, but she knows during the early days of the plague the Akaba family found him in a part of town that had been ravaged by the undead, yet he remained uninfected, or so they thought. As far as Masumi knows, Reira was the first person to be identified as a carrier of the virus. He bonded with Reiji instantly, but was hesitant around strangers. When Reiji learned Masumi had a younger brother, he tasked her with socializing Reira. Honestly, it was a job Masumi was unprepared for. Reira needed a doctor, not a friend, but Reira’s presence in the Akaba family was very hush-hush, in fact Masumi thinks fewer than ten people, including herself, even know that he’s in the building.

Once Masumi got Reira to trust her, she was able to help Reiji take various samples from him. Masumi feels terrible for what she put Reira through. They collected blood and skin cells, they took CAT scans, X-Rays, and MRIs. The worst test was the bone marrow, which Reira had to be sedated for, and suffered in pain for days after. Masumi didn’t leave his side for a week after that, since Reiji was the one studying everything they took from him. Masumi only hopes that it was all worth it. If all goes well, tonight Reiji will announce that they not only have a vaccine to keep people from being infected, they also have a cure for carriers of the virus. Reira’s blood is being analyzed right now.

Masumi keeps glancing at the clock. At noon her palms begin to sweat. The sample has had ample time to set, they should know within the next hour what the result was.

Reira moves from coloring to playing with his race cars. Masumi twists her fingers in her lap and strains her ears to listen for the buzz of the door. Finally at 12:18, she hears the tell-tale sound of the door down the hallway.

Reira hears it too, and he presses his face to the door, practically vibrating with excitement. When Reiji enters Reira promptly latches on to his waist, hugging him tightly. Masumi gasps and claps her hands to her mouth.

“What?” Reira asks, turning to her. He glances up at Reiji and his jaw drops. Reiji isn’t wearing a mask.

“Good news, Reira,” Reiji says, kneeling in front of his brother. “You’re okay now.”

“It worked?” Masumi cries.

Reiji nods. “He’s cured.”

Masumi flings her own mask aside. Reira runs to her, and Masumi covers his face in kisses. This time tomorrow, she’ll be able to give her family this same good news.

 

* * *

 

The undead came out of nowhere. They pulled to the side of the road to take a break from driving, to stretch their legs. Yuya went ten steps away from them and was jumped by a zombie, and then there were more. Dozens of them. Over the chaos of the attack, Yuto heard an unholy screech. Once he had thrown the zombie that was attacking him off his back, he realized that the screeching was coming from Yuya. He tried to get to Yuya, but between his shoulder and the attacking undead, there was little he could have done.

But when the chaos ended, Yuto didn’t have to face Yuya’s bloody corpse. Instead, Yuya was sitting on the zombie’s chest, driving a knife into its throat over, and over, and over again. Yugo and Rin has to wrestle the knife away from him, and when they finally got it out of his hands, Yuya burst into tears.

He’s still crying now, hours later as the pile of undead smolders, watched over by Sora and Serena. Rin and Yugo flank Yuya, their arms around him. Yuya’s in shock; his teeth chattering, his face white as snow. Yuto doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the sound of Yuya’s screams, or the sight of him stabbing the body of the undead, blood splashing up into his face. Rin did her best to clean Yuya’s face up, but his shirt is still soaked with blood.

The sound of the car door slamming makes everyone jump.

“Sorry,” Yuri says awkwardly. He walks over to Yuya and holds out a shirt. “Here, you should change.”

Yuya nods, his eyes blank. Yugo takes the shirt, quietly thanking Yuri. Yugo and Rin help Yuya out of his bloody shirt and into the clean one. Yuri takes the dirty shirt and throws it on the fire.

“We should get moving,” Yuzu says. “The fire’s died down enough now. I’ll drive.”

They all pile back into the car, Yuya needs to be guided in. As soon as they start driving, Yuya falls over, his head in Yugo’s lap, and he’s out cold.

“Did he faint?” Sora asks nervously.

“Possibly,” Rin says. She reaches over and strokes Yuya’s bangs back. “He’s all clammy,” she says sadly. “Poor baby.”

“What happened?” Yuto asks.

Yugo sighs. “Yuya is…he has necrophobia, an intense fear of dead things. He’s had it since before the zombie apocalypse started, but obviously the situation has not been helpful at all. It was manageable, he’d get a little freaked out by a dead animal on the side of the road, he didn’t like being near cemeteries, but now…it’s terrible.”

“Tell them the whole story,” Rin says.

“Whole story?” Yuto echoes.

Rin turns in her seat. “Yuya was bitten a few months ago.”

Yuto’s jaw drops. “He was? But…”

“He’s a carrier,” Rin says. “The virus lives in him, but doesn’t affect him. He has to live with that knowledge every day. We can’t share drinks or food with him, we can’t kiss him. He hates the undead, and he’s afraid of them. That fear and anger make for the perfect storm. Sometimes he has only to look at an undead to start crying.”

“But he destroyed the undead that just attacked him,” Yuri says. “Clearly, he can hold his own.”

“That was just panic,” Yugo says. “We gave him that knife just in case. He’s never had to use it before. He’s never wanted to get close enough to undead to be able to use it. He’s been afraid that he wouldn’t survive the next encounter.”

Yuya whimpers in his sleep and Yugo and Rin lean down at the same time and end up smacking their heads together. They sit up, glance at each other, and smile.

“You first,” Rin says.

Yugo bends down and presses a kiss to Yuya’s cheek, and when he sits up, Rin kisses Yuya's cheek as well.

Yuto reaches across the seats and takes Yuri’s hand, squeezing gently. Yuri looks at him curiously, but doesn’t say anything. Yuto wishes Yuri would…well, he doesn’t know what he wishes Yuri would do.


	4. We’re gonna need a little help tonight

At the next town they come to, Yuzu pulls into a motel parking lot and heads inside to ask about rooms. Yuya wakes up while she’s still gone, and Yugo and Rin sit close to him and talk softly to him. By the time Yuzu comes back, Yuya seems a little more awake, and a little more himself.

“I got us three rooms,” Yuzu announces. “We might as well get some sleep and make tomorrow our last day on the road.”

Everyone files out of the car and into the motel. Yuri and Yuto drop their bags in their room and head for the shower, their movements mechanical.

“Everything okay?” Yuri finally asks, just as Yuto is turning on the water. He’s not sure Yuto hears him, since he doesn’t respond at first. But after a while…

“Rin, Yugo, and Yuya…I just…I guess I’m kind of jealous of them.”

Yuri feels like he got stabbed in the gut. He freezes, one foot in the shower. “J-jealous?” He asks.

Yuto turns to him. “Are you getting in or out?”

Yuri hurries into the shower and closes the curtain. He and Yuto wash up in silence, and they don’t meet each other’s eyes as they dry off. They leave the bathroom and notice, for the first time, that the room has two beds.

Yuto flops down on the bed nearest the door, lying on his good shoulder. “Can you toss me my bag?” He asks.

Yuri picks up the bag and drops it on the bed, and he kneels on Yuto’s other side. “Yuto…I have to tell you something.”

“Me first,” Yuto says, still not looking at Yuri. “I know I probably took you by surprise back there, but honestly, we’ve been together all day every day for the last year and sometimes I just wish you weren’t so distant with me. You don’t have to…kiss me, or hold me, but…I feel like even when you’re close, you’re not really with me.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Yuri snaps. He runs his fingers through his hair. “Look, I do it on purpose because I’m a…a carrier.”

Yuto finally sits up and looks at Yuri. “You…but when did you get bitten?”

“Back when the undead first started rising,” Yuri says quietly. “I had gone back to my group home for a while and…one of them snuck up on me. I thought I was done for, and then I wasn’t. So they did some testing and found out I was a carrier. Didn’t you notice I never used proper silverware at school? It was all disposable, so I wouldn’t infect anyone else.”

Yuto swallows. “I…I really didn’t notice.”

“Guess you wouldn’t really have a reason to,” Yuri sighs. “Actually, the screwdriver I use? It was what I used to fight off the undead that got me. It was in a pile of trash, it was the first thing I grabbed, and I slashed the thing’s head off with it.”

“That’s why you don’t care if you get bitten,” Yuto says, like he’s coming to a realization. “It doesn’t matter to you.” He reaches behind himself and slams a pillow into the side of Yuri’s face.

Yuri falls to his side. “What?!” he sputters, looking up at Yuto in confusion.

“Ass,” Yuto accuses, tears in his eyes. “You could have told me.”

“Goddamnit, Yuto!” Yuri shouts, “What good would it have done? What good does it do now? I’m just as bad as them!”

Yuto grabs Yuri by his hair and hauls him up. “Don’t you dare,” he hisses. “You’re nothing like them.”

Tears sting Yuri’s eyes, and he can’t tell if it’s because Yuto is tugging on his hair or because part of him wants to believe what Yuto is saying. “How do you know I won’t wake up one day and turn into a brain eating monster? What if I attack you? What if I go after Yuya, or Serena?”

Yuto flings Yuri down on the bed and straddles his waist. His eyes are hard, and his mouth is set.

“You don’t believe you’re a monster,” Yuto says. “If you did, you wouldn’t have told me that you would do anything to save me. You said that yesterday, you absolute freak. If you thought it was hopeless, you wouldn’t be going to ask about the vaccine. You want to know if you can be cured. There’s some kind of hope in you.”

Yuri can’t hold back his tears anymore. “I hate you,” he spits between sobs. He pretty much said exactly the contrary yesterday, it’s true, but right now he does hate Yuto. He hates him for wanting to be kissed, something not worth hating anyone for, but right now he hates Yuto for it.

Yuto’s gaze softens. He places his hand over Yuri’s mouth, and he leans down. He closes his eyes and presses his mouth to the back of his hand, right where Yuri’s mouth is. It’s a pathetic stand-in for a kiss, but it makes Yuri’s heart skip a beat all the same.

“I hate you, too,” Yuto whispers, sounding like he doesn’t mean it at all.

Yuri squeezes his eyes shut and sobs. Yuto holds him, silent as Yuri cries on his shoulder. In the morning, they don’t talk about what happened.

 

 

Maiami city is like a paradise. It’s hardly been touched by the chaos the undead have brought, the few boarded up windows and signs warning people not to approach the undead get lost among the manicured lawns and bright billboards. A few people walk while texting, a group of girls sit outside a café in shorts and tank tops. Yuri can’t remember the last time he walked without being hyper vigilant of everything around himself, or even wore a t-shirt, and he’s a carrier.

And among it all, Akaba tower stands like a shining beacon in the middle of the city, shimmering glass hundreds of feet tall, stretching into the sky.

Serena parks the car haphazardly a few blocks away from the tower. Yuri thinks she does it on purpose, to throw a little chaos into this alien-ly normal city. She grabs her bat as they exit the car—it’s still stained with blood.

“Do we even need weapons?” Yugo asks as he guides Yuya (who is still a bit shell-shocked) out of the car.

“They’ll pry this bat away from my eaten corpse,” Serena says.

Sora clings to Yuzu’s hand. “I hate it here,” he says. “We look…like we don’t belong.”

Yuzu tries to smile at him. “Hopefully we won’t have to stay long.”

It’s a strange thing to say, considering that this place is normal. They’re the abnormal ones. It’s true, they don’t belong, but it’s because they come from a world of after. This is the world of before, before everything went to shit. Kids like them should be rejoicing that a place like this even exists, but they’ve become so accustomed to destruction and blood that clean sidewalks and composed people feel artificial.

The group walks into Akaba tower, and Yuri wishes that a pack of undead would come crashing through the glass windows just so he could splatter their blood all over the white marble floors.

“This is ridiculous,” he hisses. Beside, him Yuto nods in agreement.

Serena marches right up to the reception desk and the woman typing at a computer behind it. She taps her bloodstained bat on the desk. “We’re here about the vaccine,” she announces.

The woman glances up and doesn’t even looked surprised at the group of dirty, war-ravaged children standing in front of her. She points to the elevator. “Go to the tenth floor, you’ll receive forms to fill out and then a doctor will meet with you.”

It’s so…clinical. They head to the elevator and Sora presses the button for the tenth floor.

As the doors slide shut, Rin whispers, “Are we in the Twilight Zone?”

“Maybe,” Yuri answers. “Stranger things have been known to happen.”

The elevator doors open and Yuri feels some tension leave his shoulders, which is odd, because the room they walk into is full of ragged teenagers dressed in leather and denim, each with some kind of weapon within their reach.

A young woman in a white coat meets the group at the elevator doors and hands them a packet of papers. She rattles off a clearly memorized speech, “These are the forms with the information about the vaccine along with the risks and benefits please read it carefully and sign each page at the bottom before filling out the information requested on the last page if you’re unsure of anything leave it blank and someone will be along shortly to help you—”

“Excuse me,” Yuya says timidly, the first words he’s spoken all day, “I’m a carrier.”

The woman pauses and blinks. “Oh, okay then, I’ll get you a different packet.”

“Uh, I am too,” Yuri says, stepping forward and not meeting anyone’s eyes. “What do you mean, different packet?”

The woman gives him a curious look. “Isn’t that why you’re here? For the cure?”

Yuri feels like his stomach is in his throat. “C-cure?” He asks.

“It was announced last night,” the woman says. “A cure for carriers of the virus. It’s only been tested on a handful of people, but it’s been successful each time.”

Yuya crumples to the floor. Rin and Yugo kneel beside him, anxiously asking if he’s okay. Yuri thinks Yuya is crying, then after a second he realizes that he’s crying, too.

The woman hands Yuri a tissue along with the new packet. “After you finish filling out the forms, you’ll both need to be separated from your friends.”

That gets both Yuri and Yuya to stop crying. “What?!” Yuya yelps.

“It’s to control the environment,” the woman says. “It’ll be for two, maybe three days, and if it goes well, you’ll be free to live a normal life afterwards.”

Yuya looks anxiously between Yugo and Rin. “But…but…I’ve never been alone before,” he says in a small voice.

“Can’t we stay together?” Yuri asks.

The woman looks at him tiredly. “I’ll ask,” she says, then the elevator doors open once again and another group of teenagers file into the room.

The group numbly make their way to a corner, where they slump to the floor and start filling out their forms. It’s been months since Yuri held a pen, and his hands are shaking on top of it, making it even harder to write. He’s been fighting monsters for so long, so resigned to his fate that now, staring normalcy in the face, he’s not sure what to do with it.

“So, you’re really a carrier?” Serena asks. Yuri looks up at her. Her face gives away nothing.

“Yeah,” Yuri answers.

Serena doesn’t say anything else about it, no one does. Once the forms are filled out, the lot of them go back to the woman who handed them the packets and tell her that they’ve done what they can.

She nods and beckons to Yuri and Yuya. “Come with me, I’ve been informed that you can share a room.”

“Now?!” Yuya yelps.

“The sooner the better,” the woman says.

Yuya turns to Yugo and Rin, his eyes wide with fear. Yugo hugs him tightly and Rin whispers something in his ear, and Yuya starts to cry again. Yuri looks at his feet until he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up and meets Yuto’s eyes.

“I’ll wait for you here,” Yuto promises.

Yuri nods, his mouth suddenly dry. He can’t think of anything to say, so he takes his screwdriver out of his pocket and hands it to Yuto.

“Look after that for me,” he says.

Yuto nods. “I will.”

Finally, Yuya breaks away from Yugo and Rin, and the pair of them follow the woman down a hallway. The floor looks like it used to house offices and was hastily converted to a makeshift hospital ward.

“Each room has its own air filtration system,” the woman informs them. “For the next few days, everyone who enters your room will be wearing special clothing to keep germs from spreading. Your immune systems may be compromised by the serum.”

“How compromised?” Yuri demands.

“Thus far, all effects have worn off within three days, but we still don’t want to take any chances,” she answers evasively. If Yuri hadn’t just risked life and limb for this cure, he’d walk out.

Two beds have been shoved into a room and a pair of hospital gowns laid out on each. “Please change,” the woman says, “And leave your clothes and personal items outside the door. They will be washed and returned to you.”

Yuri is glad he gave Yuto his screwdriver. There would be something terrible about having it returned in pristine condition, like nothing had ever happened to it.

Yuri and Yuya change with their backs to each other and then wait in silence on their beds until a doctor and a young looking girl walk into the room. The doctor introduces himself as Yusei Fudo, the girl as Masumi Kotsu.

“I was part of the team that first tested the cure,” Masumi explains. “I’ve seen the side effects first hand. You may have some pain at the injection site, and you may have a cough or runny nose in the following days. You’ll receive and injection every six hours for twenty-four hours, and then after that we’ll take a blood sample every twelve hours until we see evidence that the Zombie-virus is no longer in your bloodstream.”

Yuya squeaks. “What if…it doesn’t go away?”

Dr. Fudo looks at Yuya fondly. “It would be the first case where it had happened, but we would keep injecting you with the cure until we either saw improvement or you showed extreme side effects, at which point we would have to try something new.”

Yuya looks on the verge of panic, so Yuri says, “But that’s never happened before, has it?”

“Never,” Masumi and Dr. Fudo say together.

But Yuya doesn’t look convinced.

 

 

At some ungodly hour of the night, Yuri wakes up because Yuya is crying. At first Yuri tries to ignore him, but he feels it’s mean and for some reason that makes him feel guilty, so he sits up and flips on the lamp between their beds.

Yuya jumps and hastily wipes his eyes. “I-I’m sorry,” he whimpers.

Yuri staggers out of his bed and sits on the edge of Yuya’s. “What happened?” He asks, rubbing his eyes. “Nightmare?”

Yuya sobs loudly and nods. “I h-hate myself,” he blubbers.

Yuri has never dealt with hysterics before. He pats Yuya’s shoulder awkwardly. “You’re not so bad.”

Yuya hiccups. “No, it’s ‘cause…I’m just like them.”

Oh, right, he has a paralyzing fear of dead bodies. “No you’re not,” Yuri says automatically. “You’re nothing like them.” Wasn’t Yuto telling him the exact same thing yesterday? And didn’t Yuri refuse to believe him?

Yuya sniffles. “I was getting better. Then all this started and…and corpses in the streets…” he starts taking rapid, shallow breaths.

“Are you having a panic attack?” Yuri asks.

Yuya lets out a quiet whine.

Yuri scoots closer to him and puts his arm around Yuya’s shoulders, and Yuya clings to him like a koala. Yuri has never been good with stuff like this. “It’s going to get better now that there’s a vaccine,” Yuri offers, the only consolation he can think of. Maybe he should try distracting Yuya? “Let’s talk about something else, yeah?”

Yuya gulps. “Like what?” He asks.

“Yugo and Rin,” Yuri says. “Tell me how you met them.”

Yuya sits up and wipes his eyes. “Yugo and I have been friends for a while,” he says. “We didn’t see each other every day or anything like that, but we were still close. When he met Rin, they hit it off right away. They were perfect for each other, and Rin…she’s amazing. We got along right away, too, but I was jealous, and I couldn’t figure out who I was most jealous of, Rin or Yugo. After they dated for a few months, they went through a rough patch, and I helped them through it. I made them talk to each other, I said they couldn’t give up on each other. Then they told me that…that they couldn’t imagine their lives without me. So they asked if…the three of us could try to work something out.”

“Just like that?” Yuri blurts.

Yuya grins and nods. “I’m lucky. My parents are really supportive of us.” His smile fades. “Things were going great until I got bitten. I’m such an idiot.”

“Hey, I got bitten, too,” Yuri says.

Yuya looks down at his lap. “I bet you were fighting it though. I got bit because I froze. I let it get me. I just stood there and cried.”

“You got that undead good the other day,” Yuri says.

“I don’t even remember that,” Yuya mutters. “Yugo said I…I was brutal.”

Yuri physically moves Yuya over on the bed and lays down. He has a feeling it’s going to be a while before he gets to sleep again, but he’s tired and wants to lay down, damn it!

“How’d you get to be afraid of dead things?” Yuri asks. Maybe not the best question, but he’s curious. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he adds, to be polite.

Yuya squirms. “My…my grandpa died when he was babysitting me. I was three, and he had a massive heart attack while I was taking a nap. When I woke up I went to find him, and he was lying on the floor with his eyes open and…and blank. Just staring.”

“That’s fucked up,” Yuri says. “No wonder you’re scarred, I would be too.”

Yuya actually laughs at that. “You’re the first one who’s said something like that to me,” he says as he giggles. “You’re so honest. I can see why Yuto likes you.”

Yuri almost chokes on his own spit. “Excuse me?!”

Yuya looks at him curiously. “How long have you two been dating?”

“We’re not!” Yuri sputters.

“But you will be after this, right?” Yuya asks. “You’re going to kiss him when you’re cured, right?”

Yuri gapes at him. “I…don’t know? What even makes you think we’re…together?”

Yuya ticks the reasons off on his fingers. “You slayed undead together for a year, you’ve had each other’s backs all that time, you’re always looking out for each other even when there’s no undead around, you walk so close together you’re practically each other’s shadow, your eyes just kind of…linger on each other, all the time, and you bicker like an old married couple.”

Yuri can hardly respond. “You’ve…known us for two days.”

“Three,” Yuya corrects. “And I’ve been there, I know what love looks like. Between myself, Yugo, and Rin, and Yuzu and Serena, and my own parents, I’m surrounded by people in love.”

“Yuzu and Serena!” Yuri cries, grateful for the change in topic, “Tell me about them.”

Yuya shrugs. “Typical. Yuzu is my best friend and was the angel of our school and Serena was the delinquent. They made out behind the gym a few times, and then when Serena singlehandedly saved our entire apartment complex from the undead, Yuzu swooned into her arms.”

Yuri is about to press Yuya for more details, but Yuya lays down beside him and asks, “Would you stay here, at least until I fall asleep?”

“Sure,” Yuri answers. He’ll stay all night, he’s too tired to move, and the nurse is probably going to give them their second injection soon anyway.

“Thanks,” Yuya says. “For everything. I can tell you’re not used to dealing with…people like me.”

“Like what?” Yuri asks.

“Crybabies,” Yuya mutters. “Cowards.”

Yuri rolls on his side and swings his arm over Yuya’s waist. “Shut up,” he says. “You’re not a coward. Crybaby, maybe, but that’s not a terrible thing to be.”

Tears form in Yuya’s eyes once more. “You still didn’t have to.”

“But I chose to,” Yuri says. “Now stop talking and sleep.”

He thinks this is as close as he can get to being a nice person. He wonders if Yuto would be proud.

“Rin, by the way,” Yuya says.

“What?” Yuri asks.

“I’m going to kiss her first when I’m cured. You didn’t ask, but since I asked if you were going to kiss Yuto, I figure I might as well share, I’m going to kiss her first. Because Yugo was my last kiss before I got bitten.”

Yuri finds himself blushing for no reason. This is going to be a long three days.


	5. Count me in

Despite everything Yuri said over the last three days to convince Yuya that the cure would work on them, he’s actually shocked when Masumi comes into the room, mask off and grinning, and announces that there’s no trace of the virus in their bodies anymore.

Yuya screeches and hugs Masumi, and then he hugs Yuri while Yuri stands frozen, uncomprehending. He’s not a carrier anymore? He can share a cup with a normal person and not turn them into a monster? He can use a fork, wash it, and let someone else use it? He can kiss someone?

The door to their room opens once more and Yugo and Rin come tumbling in and go straight to Yuya. They’re closely followed by Yuto, who walks up to Yuri and stops.

“Hey,” Yuto says.

“Hey,” Yuri says back, his mouth dry. He can kiss someone. Someone like Yuto.

Yuto reaches into his pocket and pulls out a screwdriver. Yuri’s screwdriver. He holds it out and Yuri takes it.

“Thanks,” Yuri says, trying to ignore the sounds of Yugo, Rin, and Yuya crying all over each other and making out. “Where’s your sling?” He finally asks, since Yuto isn’t wearing it anymore.

Yuto grins. “When I told the nurse about my shoulder, she set me up with an MRI. Turns out a few days of rest really did me some good, and I got an internet connection so I managed to look up some exercises to help keep it that way.”

Yuri nods. “Great,” he says.

They stare at each other, Yuri’s head spinning with the same thoughts he’s had for three days. How it felt so weird to sleep without telling Yuto to wake him in a few hours, how Yuto slept with his arm supported over Yuri’s body for days, how on the last night they were together Yuto put his hand over Yuri’s mouth and pretended to kiss him. They don’t have to pretend now. Yuri didn’t think that would ever happen. And that begs the question—does he have the guts to do this? Does he have the heart for it? Maybe he should just…not.

Then again, Yuri has never been the kind of person to play it safe, not even with his own life.

“Aw, to hell with it,” Yuri snaps. He grabs Yuto by his collar and hauls him so close that Yuto steps on his toes, and then Yuri kisses him.

Even though Yuri initiates the kiss, he kind of freezes after that, standing there like an idiot with his eyes shut and his mouth pressed tightly to Yuto’s. Thank god Yuto seems to know what to do. He steps off Yuri’s feet and wraps his arms around Yuri’s shoulders, and he moves his lips slowly across Yuri’s, until Yuri responds and kisses back. Yuri’s heart feels like it’s beating a thousand times a minute, and there’s a shivery feeling going through his whole body. He unclenches his jaw and exhales, breath shaking out of his chest. Yuto nudges Yuri’s lips open with his tongue and licks straight into Yuri’s mouth.

 _‘Holy shit,’_ Yuri thinks as his knees go weak.

“Well!” Serena yells, and Yuri jumps so badly he nearly bites Yuto’s tongue. He jumps back and glares at Serena as she smirks and continues, “Ain’t this quite the reunion!”

Yuya, Yugo, and Rin don’t even bother to stop whatever it is that they’re doing. Yuri feels like his whole face is on fire. Serena looks entirely too smug.

“Fuck off,” Yuri growls.

“Oh, don’t stop on my account,” Serena says.

Yuto actually laughs. Yuri wants to hit him, but he keeps his hands to himself, even as Yuto hugs him and peppers kisses all over his face.

“You’re embarrassing,” Yuri accuses as Yuto kisses his left eyebrow.

“Shut up,” Yuto says, kissing the bridge of Yuri’s nose. “I haven’t seen you in three days.”

“Tragedy,” Yuri says.

Yuto leans his forehead against Yuri’s, and Yuri looks down, partly to keep himself from going cross-eyed and partly because he’s realizing what he’s just done.

 _‘Crap,’_ Yuri thinks. He kissed Yuto. What the hell happens now?!

As if having read his mind, Yuto answers. “One day at a time,” he says softly, cupping Yuri’s jaw in his hands. “Okay?”

Yuri’s throat feels tight as he swallows. “Yeah…sure.”

Yuto kisses him again, and Yuri shivers even though Yuto keeps it quick.

“It’s going to be okay,” Yuto says, speaking against Yuri’s lips. “We’ve gone a year without killing each other, or getting killed, right?” Yuri nods and Yuto leans back and smiles at him. “We’ve got this.”

“And when you’re done,” Serena says loudly, “There’s still a zombie apocalypse happening out there, and the undead aren’t going to slay themselves.”

“You’re so rude,” Yuzu says, popping up from behind Serena. “Give them a minute.”

“I did,” Serena says crossly. “I haven’t beheaded anything in three days, I’m antsy.”

Yuto is about to roll his eyes, but suddenly Rin and Yugo walk over and he’s kind of worried they’ll start kissing him, too.

But they just hug him, and thank him for staying with Yuya and keeping him calm.

“How the hell did Yuya get that across while you were making out?” Yuri asks.

Yuya beams at him. “We have ways.”

Sora skips into the room and holds up a bag. “That nice girl Masumi said this is for you, Yuya. It’s anxiety medication.”

Yuya snatches the bag and stares at it like it’s solid gold. He told the nurses that he hasn’t taken his medication in weeks, since the pharmacy he used burned to the ground. Yuri’s impressed that they got him a prescription so quickly.

Yuya looks around the room. “So…I mean I understand if you guys don’t want me around, but…can I come zombie hunting with you?”

“You want to?” Yugo asks.

Yuya nods. “I want to be with you, all of you. We’re friends, right? We’ve got to stick together.”

“Of course we want you to come with us!” Yuzu cries. “We wouldn’t have it any other way!”

“That’s right,” Yuto agrees.

“Hang on,” Yuri says, “We’re part of this now, too?”

“Duh,” Serena says. “What were you going to do, continue meandering aimlessly? Not a chance, Yuri, I got to Yuto while you were gone. He’s jumped on my bandwagon.”

Yuto takes Yuri’s hand and squeezes it. “She does drive,” he says. “And I’m getting tired of walking.”

Yuri sighs. “Oh, very well.” They might as well stay with this crazy group of people.

“Ready to go behead some undead?” Serena asks, swinging her bat over her shoulders.

“Count us in!” Yugo, Rin, and Yuto say.

“Whatever,” Yuri says.

Yuya swings his arms over Yugo and Rin’s shoulders and the three of them prance out of the room. Yuzu and Serena follow, hand-in-hand, Sora right behind them, and Yuto and Yuri bring up the rear of the group. Yuri’s got one hand in his pocket, fingers wrapped tight around his screwdriver, and his other hand on Yuto’s arm. As Serena said, the zombie apocalypse is still going on, and compared to that, navigating a relationship will be easy.

“So, where are we going?” Sora asks as they leave the building.

“I hear there’s a cemetery up north that’s crawling with undead,” Serena answers.

“Fun,” Yuya says. He breaks open his prescription bag and dry-swallows a pill. “Don’t worry,” he says as Yugo and Rin look at him worriedly, “I’ll make it.”

“You can wait in the car with Sora,” Yuzu says.

“BUT I WANNA SLAY ZOMBIES!” Sora wails, attracting many stares from passerby.

“Tough shit,” Serena and Yuzu snap at the same time as Yuri laughs.

Sora whirls on Yuri. “What are you laughing at?” He demands.

“They’re like your moms,” He giggles.

“No, I’m his dad,” Serena corrects, “Yuzu is his mom.”

“It’s kinda true,” Yuzu says.

“EW!” Sora shrieks, attracting even more stares.

Yuri leans in to whisper in Yuto’s ear, “I think our lives were peaceful before. Compared to how our lives are now that we know this lot.”

Yuto nods. “But peace is overrated.”

Indeed, it kind of is.


End file.
